TV - All posts tagged TV

If you are a fan of the Fox TV network series “24,” which for each of eight seasons chronicled a day of action and heroics from super-agent Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland, and which concluded its network run in 2010, you have probably been excited at the upcoming return of the show, a 12-episode series called “24: Live Another Day,” slated to premiere May 5.

And if you are a Netflix
/quotes/zigman/87598/delayed/quotes/nls/nflxNFLX subscriber, you might have been refreshing your memory of Jack Bauer’s non-stop efforts to protect the U.S. and stop bad guys of all stripes by catching up on the series online. But you can’t do that any more. At least not on Netflix.

Netflix Inc.
/quotes/zigman/87598/delayed/quotes/nls/nflxNFLX just premiered the second season of its political drama “House Of Cards” on Valentine’s Day, with all 13 episodes of the show starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright available to watch in one long binge TV session, if you choose to do so.

That is, if you are able to see it.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the strain of carrying the massive amounts of Netflix traffic has led to an increase in slow video delivery over Verizon Communications’ FiOS system, in particular, and raised, again, the debate over who should pay for the delivery of all that Internet traffic.

The growing popularity of viewers tweeting while watching TV turned Twitter into a major force in what’s now known as social TV.

But Facebook is also trying to highlight its own social TV strengths and potential.

“Today, as you all know, the intersection of social media and television is a given,” Dan Rose, Facebook’s vice president of partnerships, said at this week’s Mipcom, a European TV and entertainment gathering. “Social media has become inseparable part of the social media experience. Everywhere you look, you see Facebook, Instagram and Twitter being integrated into television broadcasts.”

He created, and turned “The Office” into one of the most-successful, and popular TV series franchises of the 21st century. He put his name onto an animated HBO series, and used it to turn Karl Pilkington, whom he called a “round-headed buffoon,” into the star of the show. Hollywood gets wary any time his name is mentioned as a possible return host for the Golden Globe awards.

In one of the biggest “gets” since it started branching out into original and exclusive programs, Netflix, at 12:01 a.m. PT, Thursday, will premiere all seven episodes of the first season of Gervais’ new show “Derek.”

Brits who watch live TV have no excuse for not buying a television licence. But that hasn’t stopped hundreds of thousands from not paying — and coming up with some pretty inventive reasons why not. Excuses ranged from the “bizarre” to the “questionable” for not handing over the cash, the country’s TV licensing authority said in its 2012 round-up.

Twitter is ramping up its quest for more ad dollars by taking sharper aim at TV. The social media giant on Thursday introduced a new feature called “TV ad targeting on Twitter,” which would allow advertisers to synchronize their TV and Twitter campaigns.

Advertising in the Super Bowl “may be a tradeable event,” said the study, but it stopped short of a detailed explanation on why.

“It’s not something I’d recommend investors bank on in a single year,” said Charles “Ray” Taylor, a professor at the Villanova School of Business and an expert on the ad business. But ads do send a signal “that the company is investing in the brand and as a result of that support” the stock may strengthen, he said.

As the most expensive broadcast by far in the media world, Super Bowl ads for Sunday’s showdown between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers will cost an estimated $3.7 million to $3.8 million for a 30-second spot, according to AdAge. Broadcaster CBS Corp.
/quotes/zigman/393390/quotes/nls/cbsCBS has sold out its entire inventory.

But the payback could be quick for companies if the outperformance bump up turns out to be true this year. With the average S&P 500 component market capitalization now at $28.6 billion, a 1% move up is valued at $286 million in additional market value — enough to buy more than 70 Super Bowl ads.

As noted in 7 Gut Checks, Janney Capital’s Tony Wible has turned positive on Netflix
/quotes/zigman/87598/quotes/nls/nflxNFLX, after years of being a bear on the stock. Wible put a buy on the stock with a fair value of $127, citing the Disney distribution deal and potential for something with Sony as drivers.

Rich Tullo, director of research at Albert Fried & Co. seems to think that scenario is just a fairy tale.

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